How this affected the Vaudois we will consider in our next
chapter.

CHAPTER XII.

On the return of Victor Emmanuel I. to the throne of his fathers, with
augmented dominions, the Waldenses had such favourable expectations from
his knowledge of them that out of respect to his feelings they abstained
from certain efforts which they might have used at the congress of Vienna
for the preservation of their rights. Unhappily, these hopes were not
realized. The king passed an edict restricting the Vaudois to the
concessions enjoyed before the French occupation; and in place of the
stipend of one thousand francs for their pastors he assigned them only half
the amount. The Romish priests, not content with the restoration of the
infamous hospital for abducting Protestant children at Pinerolo, and other
grants made by the French, actually set up a claim for income which had
accrued during the period of their dispossession. This, however, Count
Crotti, superintendent of the province, refused, on the ground that the
Vaudois administered not only lawfully, but in such a way as to enhance
rather than diminish the value of the property. The temple of Giovanni was
also closed again, but only for one year, though the use of it was
accompanied by an injunction to place a screen before the entrance, so as
to mollify the opposition of the priest of the Romish chapel exactly
opposite in the same village. The king further allowed the Vaudois to
retain property outside the valleys acquired during the French occupation;
also to follow, besides ordinary trades, the professions of surgeon,
apothecary, and architect.

As the old machinery of fire and sword was no longer available, the enemies
of the Vaudois sought to win them from their principles by the issue of
pastoral letters from the bishops of Pinerolo. Messrs. Bigez, Rey, and
Charvaz engaged in these attempts, but without success, the pastors
refuting their epistles, especially MM. Geymet, Rodolph, Peyran, and
Mondon. Victor Emmanuel having abdicated in 1821, was succeeded by Carlo
Felice, a bigoted Romanist. He published a decree for restricting the
liberties of the Vaudois according to the terms of the edict of 1622. He
also allowed a bull of Pope Gregory, which forbids "to those of the
pretended reformed religion" the right of trading among the Romanists. By
means, however, of protests from the representatives of England and Prussia
this last act of tyran